Semiconductor device manufacturers are constantly striving to increase the performance of their products, while decreasing their cost of manufacture. A cost intensive area in the manufacture of semiconductor devices is packaging the semiconductor chips. As those skilled in the art are aware, integrated circuits are fabricated on wafers, which are then singulated to produce semiconductor chips. Subsequently, the semiconductor chips may be mounted on electrically conductive carriers, such as leadframes. In many cases, it is desired to monitor the operation or performance of the semiconductor chip. Packaging methods providing small component sizes at low expenses and with the possibility to monitor the devices' operation are desirable.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.